This blog on Texas education contains posts on accountability, testing, college readiness, dropouts, bilingual education, immigration, school finance, race, class, and gender issues with additional focus at the national level.

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Tx Trib Schools Explorer

Sunday, April 27, 2014

More evidence that points to how our large systems of testing in many of our states structure out the public voice and as a consequence, compromise democracy. Indeed, these systems are tantamount to weapons of mass distraction.

"Jesse Rhodes merged data from an original survey of public school
parents with quantitative measures of the scope and alignment of state
standards, testing, and accountability policies, to determine whether
and how education reforms influence the parents' political attitudes and
behaviors.

He found that highly developed assessment policies
alienate parents from government and discourage parental involvement in
education, an effect he terms "demobilization." Parental trust in
government was 11 percent lower in states with the most extensive
assessment policies, and parental assessments of government
effectiveness were 15 percent lower, compared to states with less
developed testing polices."

...

"that these policies tend to depress civic engagement among parents
because they provide few opportunities for parental input and can
introduce undesirable changes into schools.